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This resolution directs city staff to study the city’s process for handling employee discrimination, harassment and retaliation complaints, then bring proposed improvements to the council at a future meeting. Council Member Kathie Tovo brought forward this resolution after the fallout from the 2015 training session on women in government suggested some women didn't feel comfortable raising their concerns about harassment or discrimination in the workplace.

Final vote passed

At Council Member Ellen Troxclair's request, the council approved this resolution in two parts. Everyone present supported the first half of the resolution, which called for reviewing the city's policies and procedures, updating definitions, and conducting an external audit of harassment, discrimination and retaliation complaints filed from 2010 to 2015.

Final vote passed

The second half of the resolution, supported by a smaller majority, calls for exploring the creation of a third-party appeals process for employees who file grievances alleging discrimination, harassment and retaliation and who aren’t satisfied by the findings of the city staffers handling their cases. That could be accomplished by expanding the purview of the city’s Municipal Civil Service Commission, a council-appointed body that has the final say on employee appeals of denied promotions and disciplinary actions.

In response to a resolution passed in June 2015, city staffers provided a list of all of the funded jobs that have been vacant for more than a year, along with an explanation for plans to fill those posts soon. A proposed ordinance, which the council rejected, would have pulled the funding for those jobs and made the money available for something else.

This resolution directs staff to prepare a report on the implications of decreasing the tens of millions of dollars that Austin Energy transfers to other parts of the city budget. In this year's budget, Austin Energy and Austin Water combined are sending $145.8 million to the city’s general fund, which pays for services such as parks, police and libraries. The idea is that the transfer is akin to a privately owned utility paying dividends to its shareholders, but, in this case, the owners of the utility are Austin citizens. Critics have suggested the utility could lower its rates if it wasn't sending this extra revenue to other departments.

The council approved a "fair chance hiring" ordinance, championed by Council Member Greg Casar, which prevents companies from asking applicants to check a box on a job application if they have a criminal history. Private companies cannot check job applicants’ criminal histories until after they have extended a conditional offer of employment.Those companies may refuse to hire a person based on his or her criminal history only after considering the “nature and gravity” of the offense, the length of time that has passed since the offense and the scope of the job the person wants. The ordinance applies to employers with at least 15 workers and has exemptions for sensitive positions like law enforcement officers, teachers and daycare workers, where existing laws dictate the rules on background checks.

This ordinance changes the rules for renaming parks, to encourage the naming of features (such as a gazebo) instead of facilities (such as the park itself or a recreation center) and set a slightly higher bar for naming facilities after people. The old rules required the person to have "provided creditable service to the community and the city"; the new rules require a nomination to speak to the person's connection to the park and contain proof of public support for the nomination, such as letters or a signature list.